Peter Cross was born in Guildford, Surrey, in 1951. He trained as a Technical Illustrator for Hawker Siddeley, but soon set up his own studio and from 1975 began to emerge as an imaginative illustrator of great originality. He made his name with eleven childrens books which continue to delight children and parents alike with their humorous detail. Subsequently, he responded directly to adult interest in his work by producing 1588 and All This...(1988) and The Boys’ Own Battle of Britain (1990). Unwilling to restrict his fertile imagination to two dimensions, he also created a series of eccentric cabinets of curiosities, centring on various themes including Sigmund Freud and the Cheltenham Literary Festival.

In addition to delightful advertising work for Wine Rack, the richness and variety of his art reached a wider international public through his greetings card work - initially for the Gordon Fraser Gallery (Hallmark UK) and latterly through The Great British Card Company. One of Britain’s best-loved artists, the dry yet charming visual-verbal wit of Peter Cross is captured perfectly in a menagerie of sleepy cats, mischievous mice, singing hippos, beery meerkats and loveable hedgehogs.

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